Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

A post from our guest blogger Faado. A massive thank you to him for this review on the latest Zelda game. - The Control Room. 

Ok so I was looking through the past reviews and I noticed that there was a review for twilight princess but not skyward sword. So I thought to myself “something must be done about this! Challenge accepted”   

And here it is:  

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 

Ok so by this point in life we should all know the main characters in the Zelda series and if you don’t then you need to get down to the local game store and buy yourself a Nintendo console ('cause you obviously don’t own one. How else can you explain the lack of Zelda in your life?). For this particular title you will be needing a Nintendo Wii and a Wii motion plus controller. But I digress; this is about the game itself not the amazing consoles. So the game starts as the hero Link (not Zelda, Zelda is a girls name) is waking up on the day of his final flying exam, but as with any teenager his first thoughts upon waking up are not ‘HOLY MOLEY, I HAVE AN EXAM TODAY!’ No his first thoughts were ‘right lets go chill with my mates for a bit, 'cause that’s just how epic I am” so he goes to find the most important person to him, good old, not so princess, Zelda. And what does she do? She does what any good girl would do - completely ignores everything he says and throws him off the edge of their flying island only to realise that something is wrong, dive off the edge to save him with her giant bird, and then break down in tears when she realises she almost killed her ‘best friend’. So then your left with one major question, “hey where the heck is my giant bird? I’m the main character, I need a giant bird!” and this is where you meet the most obvious character in the game. Obvious how? Well Link is effectively in school, and what does every good school need? That’s right, an overconfident bully. Enter Groose, the greatest idiot to have ever graced a legend of Zelda game. Turns out in an effort keep our man Link out of the final exam, which takes the form of a race, Groose and his boys have somehow managed to capture and lock away your faithful, flying companion. Of course this is no problem for our great adventurer and he quickly rushes of to free his bird and wipe the smug grin off Grooses face. 

Now it’s not too long after this that our heroes’ world gets casually flipped upside down and he is forced to watch as his precious friend is dragged down below the thick clouds that had been the edge of their world for as long as anybody had known. And so Link is forced to begin his search for a way down below the clouds, which inevitably leads to the acquisition of the titular, Skyward Sword, and the meeting with a character so annoying I actually cried for Navi at times. Once you’re stuck with Fi (and when I say stuck I mean there is absolutely no getting rid of her) then you're off for your first experience of good old fashioned Hyrule and you know what that means… your first dungeon, and more importantly your first boss; who is quite possibly one of the campest bosses in video game history and my personal second favourite character in the entire game. Now as stories go Skywards swords is pretty good, admittedly it can be a little predictable at times, but I found that those moments weren’t disappointing in the slightest - instead they managed to make you feel good about story and the way in which it was heading. 

Now as far as the actual game play is concerned the most difficult thing about it, in my opinion, was getting used to the motion plus controls. Being an unfortunately lazy gamer I found myself trying to play the game with just general swings of the remote - the kind required for twilight princess… or any Wii game before the motion plus. Of course once I realised that just wasn’t going to happen, I picked myself a seated position that allowed adequate arm swinging room and started playing the game properly, like a boss. My personal favourite feature of the game is the rather simple item upgrades, that’s not just the sword but pretty much everything from bug nets to the rather beautiful bow… well that, of course and the flying on a giant bird (can’t express how cool they are.). 

Next up is the graphics. Now as a hard core gamer and someone who had just transferred from the mighty Skyrim, there was something about the Skyward Sword graphics that weren’t quite the HQ games I was used to and at the same time weren’t quite the cell shading of the wind waker. Now at first the ever so slightly cartoony feel to the graphics made me weary, but after playing the game for a while I started to realise that they gave the game its own unique charm, like it had looked at the big high def games of the Xbox and PS3 and thought ‘you know what? No. I’m not gonna compete with them. Instead I’m gonna do what Nintendo does best. I’m gonna make you fall in love with me in a way that means once you’ve got bored of you Call of Duty and your Battlefield, you’ll come back to me and you’ll love me all the same.’ Now if you are looking for a Zelda game that will compete with the quality of the of the HD consoles then you have two choices. One, go play Twilight Princess or two, wait for the legendary Wii U and the beautiful Zelda that will be coming with it (hopefully). 

Now as for ratings I give Skyward Sword 9/10 my only real problems with the game were the fact that Fi obviously thinks we are all total morons, and that the final boss left me wishing for so much more. But it did manage the incredible feat of keeping me away from Skyrim for a full 2 weeks which is no easy feat (just ask any of my four characters) and it’s the kind of game I will happily go back to weeks, months even years later and love it just as much as ever. The legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is most defiantly a game the series and the fans can be proud of.  

Pokémon and Nobunaga’s Ambition

(I was going to do a Christmas post today but when I heard this I was way too excited and postponed Christmas, sorry (this isn’t the first time I’ve threatened Christmas))

This is the new Pokémon game we have all been waiting for. A whole new concept, a whole new perspective and a whole new generation.

Forget starting at the beginning as a young boy or girl moving to a new town and beginning a new adventure by saving your local professor, in this game, you are a Japanese Warlord and it is set in a feudal Japan, you are trying to gain territory and become omnipotent.  

Ash is replaced with the roguishly handsome (not my words) Nobunaga and his Zekrom. You’ll have the Pokémon from our much loved games and series mixed with Nobunaga’s Ambition  (I can’t be bothered to keep writing this so from now on it is NA) gameplay. From this they came up with the imaginative title Pokémon and Nobunaga’s Ambition.

NA is a 28 year old strategy game with several sequels and remakes (available on NES, Gameboy, SNES and WII).

This game will only be available on Nintendo DS but hey most Pokémon lovers are 12 year olds and have DS’ anyway. But for those of you who do not yet have a DS, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? Pokémon is only available on DS and online and the online version is nowhere near as awesome as the DS game. So get your butts of the sofa, unglue your eyes from your High Resolution laptop screens and get down to your local Game or Gamestation and get yourself a DS.

Here’s a little something for you to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKOn0hjxymM&feature=player_embedded

Just kidding, I’m sure most of you can’t understand Japanese, those of you who can I commend you. In my case, I only understand small amounts of Japanese so translating this was close to impossible and there is nothing yet in English so either spend ages attempting to translate this in google translate or just be patient and wait for the English one.

Games Based on Movies

Okay, hear me out guys.

So there are these two totally awesome dudes, the so very strong and very just Valhalla and the amazingly wise Titus Proxima. Together they embark on a journey of discovery and trial. 3 times weekly they must provide their loyal followers with witty, banter filled adventures that they have and/or plan to embark on! On this particular day the wise Titus had this totally awesome idea to tell them the story of tasks they were set that they felt had been done before and so were disappointed in, and this is how that story went...(I’m not sure what this is but go with the flow)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend

Yeah I know, don’t judge. I was a cool kid, ok? Plus... you can’t tell me she isn’t a little bit hot. Right?

So, I don’t know if you saw the movie (only like a zillion times) but the game is NOTHING like it (when is it ever).

The game starts with a bang (literally) as a plane with Lara and her mum are in crashes and they are the only two survivors. They find themselves in a tomb with a sword which Lara’s mum pulls out of a stone and she disappears (kind of like a weird take on Excalibur).

Bolivia: Back in real time Lara travels to Bolivia where there is a stone dais that her friend Anaya mentioned. Along the way she encounters mercenaries and wild animals that try to kill her. Upon reaching the dais she meets Rutland who holds a strange piece of sword, mentions a dead friend and then sets his mercenaries on her, but she’s Lara croft so no problem.

So from here Lara goes through a series of countries including Peru, Japan, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Great Britain and Nepal (she gets around a lot), finds out some awful truths, spares some lives and ends with a plan for the future.

So yeah it’s like pretty much every other movie game out there (I really want to use some big words here like infantile and menial that will impress but I think that that ruins the whole colloquial thing we have going on).

As much as I want to say ‘yeah, totally loved it 10/10’ I really can’t. Honestly there are few perks except a little Angelina Jolie and some nice gun action it’s really quite poor, even the graphics are weak. So GGGG(4/10) is the best I can give.

Bleach: The shattered blade

On Wii! Yes, I play this game on the Wii. Should I be ashamed? Some say so, but I would disagree. The Wii is generally seen as a family console, and whilst this is mostly true, it doesn’t mean you can’t play anything other than family based games on it. Anyway, I play Bleach: The shattered blade on Wii and I’m going to tell you a little bit about it.

The game is based shortly after (anime series spoiler) Ichigo rescues Rukia from her execution at Sōkyoku Hill. Now an accepted soul reaper (shinigami), he is able to help defend soul society from their newly formed enemy – the Espada/arrancar. The power that Ichigo used at Sōkyoku Hill was so great that it broke the seal that imprisoned an arrancar named Arturo Plateado. He is a highly dangerous, self-made arrancar that attempted to destroy the whole of soul society, but was captured and then sealed beneath the city. Now that he had been released, it is his goal to seek revenge. He is able to take on the form of any member of soul society, whether it is squad captains, vice captains or other team members. It is your goal to stop and defeat Arturo before it’s too late.

You can play as loads of different characters in this game, and I’ve completed it on nearly every single one. It’s actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Each character begins the game with different reasoning, but they all end the same way – confronting Arturo. As every character has different skills and varying forms and powers with their zanpaktou the game becomes more interesting. I wish they had been able to include Hisagi’s bankai. It rocks. It really does.

Multiplayer is pretty repetitive. You and a friend can battle characters (either the same character or different ones) in different ‘arenas’ and through that determine a winner. It’s simple and there isn’t much to it. Just a bit of mindless fun you might say.

The controls are simple to use and get the hang of. It requires the Wii remote and the nun chuck to play. The individual buttons on each remote release special moves such as the bankai form or various spells.

Compared to the anime/manga...

So, this is Arturo. You look...familiar.

Here’s the thing that really bugs me. This new arrancar, Arturo, looks almost exactly like Grimmjow with the slightly longer hair/bone remains on his face. I wonder why they couldn’t just design a different arrancar that didn’t bear such a heavy resemblance to one that already exists. It’s so irritating when the character seems to lack any form of creativity and the creators feel as though they have re-use a former character template.

Of course, it’s not part of the anime

All the characters are pretty good at remaining in the same mind set as they would if they were in the anime series and so I can say that everything in this game was pretty well done when comparing it to the original series.

In conclusion...

The storyline is lacking, and it gets a bit samey after a while. The clear lack of creativity when it comes to the actual main antagonist is rather appalling if not disappointing. If you’re looking for a mindless game that requires little skill and concentration then I would highly recommend this one to you. If you want something action packed and filled with variety and twists in the plot then this really, really is not the game you’re looking for.

Kids will love it, so will those who just don’t feel like thinking for a night (we’ve all been there). However, for its poor development, gameplay and lack of creativity I reward it a mere 5/10. Sorry, Bleach , you disappointed me

As a side note, readers, please don't forget that tomorrow the winner of a copy of Skyrim will be announced! Watch this space, it's coming quickly. 

Pokémon Pots Volume III: Console games (Battle Revolution)

As Titus is at Shakespeare’s Othello tonight (I wish I could go), it looks like it’s going to be me posting solo. Well, issue 3/4 of Pokémon Pots is all about console games, so for the GameCube and WII...stuff like that. Sadly, my childhood gaming consisted of my trusty PS1, and when that eventually died I didn’t get another console until a few years ago when my mum brought home a WII, and when my sister was given an XBOX for Christmas last year. That in mind, I have only played one Pokémon console game, and my experience with it is less than expert, so you must excuse me if this is a short post. I will, however, do my best to make it as informative as possible!

The only console Pokémon game I own is Battle Revolution for the WII. I’ve played the GameCube colosseum before at a friend’s house, but that’s about it. All the colosseum-type console games seem to work in the same sort of fashion – you battle your Pokémon and try your best to win each round. The big difference with Battle Revolutions is that you also have the Stadium Mode which has special effects such as randomising the order of you Pokémon or setting level limits (I do quite like the whole level limit thing, I find it a challenge).

In this game there are 11 different colosseums to choose from that can include normal battles or special changes to the arena. Each one has its own Colosseum Leader – sort of like the Elite Four in the main games, but with only one person...maybe not entirely like them. The concept is the same.

The Crystal Colosseum holds 16 person single player battles. It goes through a process of elimination, so those defeated leave the battle and the winners play on until the last two players where the champion of the tournament is revealed.

The Gateway Colosseum is something that I know little about as it requires a pass to enter. I’ve heard it is pretty good from those who have entered it, but I still know very little about the goings on.

The Neon Colosseum uses a wheel to choose the Pokémon that the player and opponent will use to battle (spin, spin, spin the wheel of excitement!). As you progress through the colosseum the number of Pokémon that you are able to rent increases, thus increasing your power.

A few notes about the game

-          The currency of this game is called Poké-Coupons and they can be spent customising your in-game character including their hair colour and face paint (I was so excited about that I had to attempt to type face paint three times).

-          In this game there is no story mode so it’s just battle, battle, battle and be the very best!

-          Pokémon have their own animations for each attack making the battle a little more interesting to watch

-          You can win Pokémon on Battle Revolutions and transfer it to you DS game through the Mystery Gift feature (awesome stuff!)

-          To win these hard to find Pokémon you must achieve certain goals or enter a special code into the game. This enables you to send Pokémon to your DS game that would usually require a cheat to get.

-          Purchase items, TM’s and evolution items

Gameplay

To be honest, I found it to be a little strange. Everything seemed so futuristic that it stopped feeling like the Pokémon games I have always known and loved so well. The controls are really simple and don't take very long to learn, you can pretty much get the jist of it without looking at the manual I found. The graphics are standard Pokémon style - nothing spectacular but still decent. The only problem is that the Pokémon all felt really 3D and I felt it took a little bit of the experience away because, like the surroundings, it all felt way too futuristic. It's rather enjoyable trying to find the hard to get Pokémon for your DS game, but sadly I never got to finish Battle Revolution as it technically belongs to my younger sister /mumble /grumble.

So yeah, that’s all I really know about Colosseum – I don’t to play many of the console versions of Pokémon. Titus is always gone when I need him most /cry. Well, to make up for the poor quality of this post (I tried my hardest, honest) I have some fun little Pokémon videos for you to watch! By the way, what are your thoughts on the colosseum games and have you played any of the other console versions? If so, tell us about it in the comments!

~ Valhalla

Follower Saturday - Zelda: Twilight Princess

Saturdays have become the day of the week when followers of our blog here, on Twitter and Facebook are able to request what we blog. This week, we were asked to do a post on Zelda, and so Titus Proxima has chosen his favourite Zelda game (sadly, Valhalla never got to play Zelda). In this post we'll give you a brief summary of the storyline and a few thoughts about the gameplay before giving it out Gamer rating out of 10.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Link is a young ranch hand in Ordon Village, which is a relatively peaceful place. However, there comes a day when the village is attacked by evil, terrifying monsters who grab and take the children who live in the village. Link, enraged by the events that are occuring pursues the attackers, but encounters a wall of twilight. A shadow beast pulls him beyond the wall and into what appears to be the realm of twilight, where he is transformed into a wolf and imprisoned.

Time passes until eventually Link is saved by the imp Mid na, who guides him to Princess Zelda. The Princess ecplains that Zant, who is King of the Twilight, has stolen the light from three light  spirits and conquered Hyrule. In roder to save Hyrule, Link must restore the light spirits by entering the twilight areas whilst in wolf form before recovering the poor spirits. To do this, he must collect the tears of light, and once all of these are collected for one area, he restores the light spirit that resides there. As he restores them, the spirit returns him into human form.

At around the same time, Link also aids Midna in finding the Fused Shadows, fragments of a relic containing powerful dark magic. In return, she helps Link to find the missing village children. Once link has restored the light spirits and Midna has all the Fused Shadows, Zant emerges and attacks them. Taking the Fused Shadows he transforms Link back into a wolf using his own (Zant) magic, and seriously injures Midna in the process (he's not a very nice guy, is he?). Link brings the dying Midna to Zelda, who tells him that he requires the Master Sword to change back to human form, and then heals Midna before suddenly vanishing without a trace (suspicious).
Once Link has found the sword and is returned back to human form - discovering also that he can switch between wolf and human at will - Midna leads him to the Mirror of Twilight, which is the only known gateway between the Twilight Realma and Hyrule. Upon arriving, they discover that Zant has broken it (seven years bad luck there). The sages who reside by the mirrior explain that Zant attempted to destroy it, but as he was not the true ruler of Twlight he could not break it and was only able to shatter it into pieces. As an interesting side note, the sages decide to add that they send a group of theives named Ganondorf through the mirror and to the twilight realm around a hundred years ago.
 Determined to fix the mirror, Link and Midna set out on an epic wuest to find the missing shards so that they may use the portal. After a long and arduous search, they eventually find all the missing fragments and return to the mirror so that they may repair it. Once the mirror has been fixed, they open up a portal to the Twilight Realm. Just before they enter, Midna and the Sages decide to tell Link something incredibly important - that Midna is the true ruler of the Twilight Realm, and that she was changed into an Imp my Zant after he stole her power. They then enter the Twilight Realm.
When they are in the Twilight Realm, Zant informs Link and Midna that his go, Ganondorf (familiar name here), granted him great power to do with whatever he wishes so long as he used it to conquer Hyrule. As we were informed earlier, Zant successfully conquered Hyrule. Link then engages Zant in battle and defeats him. As Link defeats the apparant King of the Twilight Realm, Midna recovers the Fused Shadows and then destroys Zant after he tells them that only Ganondorf's death can undo Midna's curse.
The two return to Hyrule to find Ganondorf in Hyrule Castle with Zelda hanging above his head (I don't mean killing hanging, more like suspended). Link engages in battle once more (he likes a good fight it seems) and defeats him. He then takes on his Gandorf incarnation after possessing Zelda's body. Midna manages to revive the poor Princess and she and Link help her get back on her feet.
Ganondorf revives himself, and hurriedly, Midna teleports Link and Zelda outside the castle so that she can hold Ganondorf off with the Fused Shadows that were previously collected. Link and Zelda watch in horror from outside as the castle is wrecked before their eyes. It is then that Ganondorf appears before them on a horse with one of the Fused Shadows, which worked at Midna's helemt, in his hand. He hold it firmly in his grip and breaks it almost effortlessly. Hurriedly, Link and Zelda mount Link;s horse Epona and receive Light Arrows which they use to continue the battle against Ganondorf. Eventuall, the enemy is knocked from his horse and Link catched up, plunging his sword down and through Ganondorf's chest, killing him. The Light Spirits then go and reviv Midna who is restored to her true form now that the enemy is dead. Tearfully, Midna bids Link and Zelda farewell as she enters the mirror, returning to the realm that she rules. Once there, she destroys the mirror, severing the only link between the two worlds.
As Hyrule castle is rebuilt, a lone traveller named Link rides away from his hometown on the back of his loyal steed, Epona.

As a gamer who likes his graphics I have to say for a game of it's time I think Zelda is very impressive for it's generation. Nintendo stormed the modern world with exiting new graphics that impressed and thrilled those who were impressed by good graphics and they managed all this without throwing amateur gamers into the deep end. Despite being excellent at pulling gamers into the new world of graphics in fantasy adventure games they manage not to rush those less prepared. The Wii was designed with limited graphic capabilites. You could spend hours picking holes in the game for this but despite this Zelda has come out pretty darn well. One of the few problems with Zelda is that you get the feeling that the designers are either trying to hard or not enough because of it's cyclicle nature. Despite Zelda being an unmistakable gamer classic through the years it has lost some of it's originality, this is a shame but not unpredicted. Many games go through this and it is one thing that no game designer can avoid forever. Personally this has never put me off a game and it caertainly won't put me off Zelda which I love. Through the ages of Zelda, Link, the main protagonist, has never spoken. There is plenty of lines from other characters and it would be nice, now that nintendo have advanced, to create some actualy interaction. This one sided conversation is a very dated concept and it does bring up a nostalgic feeling but as gamers we expect new and exiting rather than old and comforting. I'm sure fellow players would agree that the controls are also surprisingly easy to use despite it being a Wii game, a console which I have allways found frustrating.

Now it's time for our Gamer rate. We are giving Zelda:Twilight Princess GGGGGGG (7 out of 10 Gamer rating). This is not bad but we do think it could do with some inprovements.

Titus will have Valhalla addicted in no time.

Titus Proxima and Valhalla, allways, thank you for following us and reading ur posts. We do this for you. We enjoy all the feedback we get and look forward to more of it. So please tell us what you think of Zelda.